Secretary FAST - Federazione delle associazioni scientifiche e tecniche

Vacancy for a Secretry at the office of FAST Brussels,
Job Title: Secretary
Reference: FAST BRX/HR/CM01/11

Organisation
Established in 1897, FAST – the Italian Federation of Scientific and Technical Associations, is an independent non-profit association representing 37 national scientific and technical associations with around 50.000 members active in research, technology, industrial and public authority sectors. FAST, operates nationally and internationally, directly and through its member organisations, providing technical and organizational services to public and private organisations, as well as advanced training and vocational education initiatives, studies and applied research. In addition FAST for many years has been coordinating and participating in several European projects as well as facilitated participation in these projects of its member organisations. It has also been part, as the Italian representative organisation, in several European networks, in project and dissemination management. FAST is an ISO 9001:2008 certified organisation.

Since 8 years FAST has managed the offices of the Italian Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Association H2IT, that currently has over 100 members including ENEL, ENI, Edison, Air Liquide, Linde and several of the Italian Regions. In addition FAST, since five years, through its Brussels office, is managing the office of the European Hydrogen Association, EHA, (www.h2euro.org). Under FAST management the EHA has grown from 6 national member associations to 21 national member associations in four years. In 2008 FAST, in collaboration with the EHA, started the management of the secretariat of HyER (formerly HyRaMP (www.hyer.eu) in Brussels, a partnership of regional authorities with a current membership of 32 regions in 14 countries.

FAST is convinced that only through a dedicated and educated secretariat, familiar with the sector in which the organisation is operating, organisations are able to establish an economic and sound operation that supports its members and stakeholders with valuable information and efficient services.

Post and Duties
The Secretary will be responsible for running the administrative and communication support activities at the FAST office in Brussels. Tasks includes general and financial administration of the two EU asssociations that FAST is managing, administrative support of EU project dissemination, contact database and website maintenance, as well as the organisation of meetings and events.

Eligibility criteria

• In possession of legal residence and working permit in Belgium;
• Military service: Having fulfilled any obligations imposed on him/her by the laws of their home country concerning military service;
• International organisation office management experience: a level of education which includes general and financial administration attested by a diploma followed by proven professional experience of at least 3 years;
• Languages: a thorough knowledge of English (preferable native speaker) and French and a satisfactory knowledge of a third of these languages to the extent necessary for the performance of his/her duties related to the post;
• Fitness to perform the duties linked to the post.

Selection criteria

• Professional experience of at least 3 years in a field relevant to the position acquired after the completion of relevant studies referred to in the eligibility criteria;
• Within the minimum professional experience of 3 years, at least 2 years should be in a field related to the duties;
• Very good knowledge and experience of offcie duties of European organsitions
• Knowledge of office management of regional and local authorities;
• Good knowledge of the European institutional framework;
• Excellent sense of responsibility and initiative;
• Excellent command of English, including very good drafting and communication skills;
• Ability to use electronic office tools (word processing, spreadsheets, email, internet, etc.);
• Ability to work in a team and in a multicultural environment;
• Ability to work under pressure and to meet tight deadlines;
• Good analytical ability and communication, problem-solving and organisational skills;

Selection and Appointment Procedure
A select number of candidates will be asked for an interview with the FAST office coordinator in Brussels end of November. Starting date could be as early as December 1, 2011

Conditions of Employment
The successful candidate will be appointed after an evaluation of the post holder's performance of 2 months, for a period of one year with extension possibilities

Application procedure
In order for applications to be valid, candidates must submit:

• Letter of motivation; and
• Curriculum-Vitae (CV) preferably drafted using the European CV format* .

The application will be rejected if the file is incomplete. Supporting documents (e.g. certified copies of degrees/diplomas, references, proof of professional experience etc.) should not be sent at this point but must be submitted at a later stage in the procedure, if requested. In order to facilitate the selection process, all communication to candidates concerning this vacancy will be in English.

Applications, in English, should be sent by e-mail, quoting the post reference of this announcement, to Marieke Reijalt reijalt@h2euro.eu. Candidates are asked to report any potential change of contact details in writing, without delay, to the email address above.

*The European CV can be downloaded from the website: http://www.europass.cedefop.europa.eu/